Easy Borax Crystal Ornaments | Christmas Science

Easily make your own borax crystal ornaments for Christmas this year. They only require two ingredients and they turn out shiny, sparkly, and gorgeous. These borax crystal ornaments make awe-inspiring homemade gifts for friends and neighbors. Plus, the kids can do a fun winter science experiment and learn about chemistry as they grow their very own stunning crystals.

Last year we made an adorable snowy snowman using this same process. He makes a shiny little holiday decoration as well!

Bend your pipe cleaner into your desired shape. We did this by using cookie cutters as a guide as seen below.

Tie a piece of string to your pipe cleaner shape. You can use string, yarn, or even dental floss if you want!

Attach the string to a pencil, pen, spoon, or other long object and set aside.

Fill your jar or vase with boiling water. Add 3 Tablespoons of borax per cup of water and stir. It’s okay if some borax settles on the bottom of your container.

Lower your pipe cleaner shape into the hot water/borax mixture. Make sure it is not touching the sides or the bottom of your container, and that you can get it through the mouth of your container easily. Feel free to trim or bend your shape accordingly. It is fine to have two ornaments in one large container just as long as they don’t touch.

Make sure your jar is in a quiet place where it won’t be disturbed. You don’t want it to get jostled or bumped at all while the crystals are growing.

After a couple of hours you will start to see crystals growing! Leave your mixture overnight for best results, or remove your ornaments after just a few hours if you just want a light dusting of crystals.

Let your borax crystal ornaments dry on a paper towel for an hour or so. Then pick it up and admire it in the sunlight. Seriously, the crystals are intricate and gorgeous. You will want to grab a magnifying glass to observe them more closely!

The thing I was most surprised at is how sturdy these are! I thought they would be delicate and fragile, but they are deceptively hardy. Also, they look edible, but they aren’t. I even found myself tempted to gnaw on them. Don’t do it.

The Science of Growing Borax Crystals

Crystal science is amazing. The word crystal actually refers to any material that is arranged in an ordered form. Some crystals (like borax) are arranged into little cubes. Other crystals (like snowflakes) have six different arms. You can grow crystals from many substances including salt, sugar, epsom salt, baking soda, and borax. In most of my undergrad chemistry labs the last step was to crystallize the product so we could weigh it. I’ll tell you, though, these borax crystals are much easier to grow than most of the substances we had to grow in my lab, and they are more beautiful, too!

I love the way these ornaments reflect the light on our tree. The crystals give the shapes a delicate frosty look.

Borax is a poison used to kill pests and can be absorbed through the skin. Borax in slime is combined with other compounds (glue) to neutralize some of the exposure. If you read the borax box it indicates that you should not handle the Borax directly. It indicates that contact can have an adverse effect on children and their hormones – now what exposure that is needed, I do not know. Ingestion causes nausea and vomiting. Hmmm touching borax then touching my mouth…. Borax while easy for teachers to get, easy to use, needs to be used with precautions.

Absolutely! As with anything that is potentially toxic, care needs to be used to ensure that babies and young children don’t ingest it and that older kids wash their hands after handling it. However, it is often used as a safe and natural household cleaner and detergent. I even washed my hands with it back in junior high school because it’s the only soap the school provided in the bathrooms and locker rooms! So yes, make sure the kids don’t eat it and that they wash their hands, but there shouldn’t be much of a concern past that.

I usually leave it overnight for strong, dense crystals. If you want crystals that are less dense you could just leave it for 4-6 hours. If you use a clear container you can see the crystals form and remove the ornament whenever you want.